Tuesday, November 12, 2002

Spanish Slang Terms: This will become a regular section, in which we fill you in on some fun expressions to add to your Peninsular Spanish vocabulary.

pijo: 1) a snobby rich kid. Wears only expensive brand-name clothing. Drives a Volkswagen Golf. Probably studied business but is not a yuppie; yuppies work hard and strive. This guy doesn't. He works for his dad's company or one of his dad's friends' companies. Speaks, stereotypically, with an exaggerated low-high-low intonation in his sentences and slightly drawled vowels. Probably comes from Sarrià-Sant Gervasi in Barcelona or Salamanca in Madrid. Is often named something retarded like "Borja" or "Alejo". 2) one who tries but fails to emulate a real pijo. He is sometimes called a "pijo-hortera". In this case he is named something retarded like "Jonathan", pronounced "Yon-ah-tan", that his parents thought sounded classy, rather in the way some American parents name their kids inappropriate things like "Tiffany", which is a BRAND NAME, for God's sake, or "Brandy", which is an ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE. I think I'll name my kid "K mart" or "Boilermaker". But definitely not Jonathan, Alejo, or Borja.

hortera: tacky in a cheesy sort of way. Often implies that you are trying to put on airs above your station or that you are doing something or behaving in a way exaggeratedly stereotypical of farmers in town in their Sunday best. Can, however, merely mean "in bad taste".

cursi: nerdy in sort of a teacher's pet sort of way. The kind of clothes that a teacher's pet would wear, for example, is cursi.

un empollón: a nerd. Again, usually refers to the sort of person who tries to please authority submissively.

dónde Jesucristo perdió las alpargatas (where Jesus lost his sandals): the middle of nowhere, Nowheresville. A wide place in the road. A jerkwater town. Also el quinto pino (the fifth pine tree).